STA, 5 May 2021 - The parliamentary Infrastructure Committee has endorsed amendments to the act on road transport that create the legal basis for transportation platforms such as Uber or Lyft, changes that the government argues will facilitate the digitalisation of the transport sector.

The proposal sets down that drivers using digital platforms would need to get a licence, just like regular taxi drivers, whereas taximeters would no longer be mandatory for taxi drivers, who would be allowed to use software solutions.

Municipalities would have a say in setting the rules since they would be able to determine the quality standard, including the type of vehicle.

The amendments also include certain provisions making public transport more attractive to users and simplifying procedures for obtaining transit cards for professional athletes.

The committee debate late on Tuesday saw the opposition criticising the legislation, arguing that it is a result of lobbying that will pave the way for increased precarisation of drivers without addressing persistent violations of labour standards in the sector.

Coalition MPs argued the legislation did not interfere with existing labour relations but would modernise the sector, improve the quality of service for users, and break up the quasi-monopoly position of certain taxi companies on the market.

Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec stressed that all drivers will be licenced. The goal is to improve mobility facilitate the development of modern, digital services.

The legislation has been strongly criticised by taxi drivers, who have staged protests against opening the doors wide to a business model that they say is based on social dumping. They delivered the same message to MPs yesterday.

But some coalition MPs, including New Slovenia (NSi) deputy Tadeja Šuštar, who worked as a taxi driver for a year, noted that it was in fact the current system that facilitated labour abuses and dumping.

Slovenian tech companies have come out in support of the legislation as well.

The Slovenian Automotive Cluster and six digital mobility companies said in a public letter in support of the legislation that the solutions will drive progress.

Mobility is increasingly intertwined with digital technology and the amendments will make it possible to create new, user-centric business models, they said.

Similarly, Slovenia's Digital Champion Marko Grobelnik told MPs a green breakthrough could only be achieved with the changes given the limits of the existing legislation.

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This summary is provided by the STA:

EU-Turkey ties high on agenda as Cavusoglu visits Slovenia

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's positions on issues relevant to EU-Turkey relations and its EU presidency priorities topped the agenda aside from bilateral relations as FM Anže Logar hosted his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. They dedicated a great part of their meeting to plans to boost bilateral cooperation, in particular direct investment, and to balance bilateral goods trade. Cavusoglu also met President Borut Pahor and PM Janez Janša, with the talks with the latter revolving around bilateral relations, EU presidency preparations, the situation in the east Mediterranean and other current issues.

Pahor to host regional summit on 17 May

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian President Borut Pahor will host the leaders of the Brdo-Brijuni process of enhanced cooperation in the Western Balkans for a summit at Brdo estate on 17 May as he continues to meet them separately in the run-up to the event. Pahor will meet his Montenegrin counterpart Milo Đukanović in Podgorica on Wednesday before travelling on to Tirana for talks with Albanian President Ilir Meta on Thursday, his office announced.

Coronavirus cases ticking up again

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia logged 894 coronavirus cases for Monday in the second day the case count has been up week-on-week as pressure on hospitals has been somewhat relieved. Four Covid-19 patients died, government figures show. Hospitalisations declined by 24 to 584 after 74 patients were discharged yesterday. So has the number of patients in intensive care units fallen by four to 143. The 7-day average of new cases rose further to 675.

Standoff on redistribution of seats on working bodies continues

LJUBLJANA - A proposal to reshuffle parliamentary working bodies to accommodate four unaffiliated MPs, including the speaker of parliament, who have recently defected from the Modern Centre Party (SMC) and the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) was rejected for the third time today. The vote prompted the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) to announce they would boycott the parliament's work with the exception of major votes such as the forthcoming impeachment motion. The remaining opposition factions meanwhile argued a boycott would be counter-productive and pave the way for fast-tracking of legislation.

EU funds for vaccination booking system

LJUBLJANA - The Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved EUR 1.5 million in EU funds for IT support for a centralised system to book Covid-19 vaccination appointments at the primary level. Announcing the grant, the office said the project, run by the Health Ministry, would guarantee safety and equal treatment of patients through a single vaccination booking solution.

Ministry says only quality journalism worth strengthening

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Culture Ministry has marked World Press Freedom Day, observed yesterday, with a message saying that press freedom should be pursued every day throughout the year, and that it is important to strengthen only quality journalism. The ministry, which is responsible for the media, joined the UN's call to affirm the importance of cherishing information as a public good, and exploring what can be done to strengthen journalism.

Tikhanouskaya received by President Pahor, Speaker Zorčič

LJUBLJANA - Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tikhanouskaya was received by President Borut Pahor and parliamentary Speaker Igor Zorčič, with the latter expressing support for efforts for democratic change in her country. Zorčič told Tikhanouskaya that democracy was fragile and that it needed to be fought for every day, the National Assembly said in a press release, adding that the Belarusian opposition leader had also met heads of parliamentary deputy groups. The European Parliament office in Slovenia tweeted that it had hosted Tikhanouskaya in the EU House in Ljubljana.

STA turns to EU for direct financial support, Pahor insists funding must be restored

LJUBLJANA - The STA staff addressed a letter to the European Commission highlighting the government's failure to meet its financing obligations despite receiving a green light for EUR 2.5 million in annual funds for the STA from Brussels. They urged the Commission to help by "allocating direct financial support" to the STA to prevent its collapse. The president's office meanwhile said that President Pahor insisted that financing of the public service performed by the STA must be restored, after the president yesterday tweeted that the agency plays an irreplaceable role.

Conservative NGOs urge European media to stop "one-sided propaganda"

LJUBLJANA - Several NGOs that bring together conservative and liberal intellectuals have sent a letter to European media to alert of what they call a misrepresentation on the state of press freedom in Slovenia, urging them to stop "one-sided propaganda" and to get informed on the situation from all world-view groups ahead of Slovenia's EU presidency.

Household deposits in Slovenia up to record EUR 23bn, central bank says

LJUBLJANA - Household deposits at banks rose by over EUR 2 billion to a record EUR 23 billion in the epidemic year of 2020 from 2019, the Slovenian central bank said on Tuesday. It attributed the rise to the labour market measures taken during the epidemic, which enabled income growth. But since many shops were closed, much of the income was not spent.

Steel group SIJ secures EUR 148m long-term loan

LJUBLJANA - SIJ, Slovenia's largest steel producer, has secured a EUR 148 million long-term syndicated loan from a consortium of banks led by Slovenia's NLB. The proceeds will be used to refinance a 2017 loan worth EUR 240 million, provide a liquidity cushion, and to finance development projects, the company said. "We sincerely thank the banks for confidence in the SIJ Group's business model and support of our business in these uncertain times," SIJ vice-president Igor Malevanov said.

SVIZ launching campaign for Kustec to step down

LJUBLJANA - The SVIZ trade union of teachers will launch a campaign to collect signatures among teachers to call on Education Minister Simona Kustec to resign, in a bid to send out a clear message that the Education Ministry has not been run well over the past year, that is during the coronavirus epidemic. Responding, Kustec said the government had taken a number of measures to accommodate for the needs of schools, including labour-related measures as part of coronavirus emergency legislation.

Secondary school-leaving exam gets under way

LJUBLJANA - The secondary school-leaving exam started for some 17,000 final-year students today. This is the second year in a row that the matura exam is taking place during the coronavirus epidemic, and after matura candidates were on distance learning for several months. Almost 7,200 candidates have registered to take the general matura in spring alongside 10,620 who registered for the vocational matura exam.

STA, 4 May 2021 - Bojana Beović, the head of the national advisory committee on immunisation, has said it would soon make sense to make coronavirus vaccination available to everyone who wants to get vaccinated.

"Given that a lot of vaccines are coming, I think it no longer makes sense to keep this [age] barrier even though not everyone over 50 has been vaccinated," she told the press on Tuesday.

Beović acknowledged this was not a formal proposal by the advisory committee, which she said was dealing more with direct expert issues such as which vaccines are suitable for which age group.

But if it is asked about this, the advisory committee will convene and provide an answer.

Under the currently valid strategy, Slovenia is vaccinating all over the age of 50, plus several priority groups.

But there has been concern about whether it can reach the desired rate of vaccination given that interest in older age groups waned once about 60% were vaccinated.

Where can I get vaccinated for COVID in Slovenia?

Find your local health centre (zdravstveni dom – ZD) in the list here, then click through to the website. These have different styles, but you’re looking for something with COVID-19 ceplenje (COVID-19 vaccination). From there you should get more details and be able to register for a jab (Naročanje na COVID-19 cepljenje)

Whether Slovenia indeed achieves the goal of vaccinating 60% of the adult population by 15 June - as of today more than 20% have received at least one shot - Beović said this would "depend on us".

She thinks everyone should focus on how to get vaccinated as soon as possible rather than whether to get vaccinated at all or which vaccine to get.

According to her, once the vaccination rate reached 60%, "we can afford to live very differently".

STA, 4 May 2021 - Household deposits at banks rose by over EUR 2 billion to a record EUR 23 billion in the epidemic year of 2020 from 2019, the Slovenian central bank said on Tuesday. It attributed the rise to the labour market measures taken during the epidemic, which enabled income growth. But since many shops were closed, much of the income was not spent.

Last year, the gross disposable income of households increased by 3.8% or EUR 1.1 billion over 2019.

"Although households had more funds available, private consumption in Slovenia strongly decreased, with similar trends witnessed in all the other eurozone members.

"The reasons are mostly related to restrictive measures needed to contain the spread of the virus, and partly also to precautionary behaviour of residents."

Since many services and non-essential shops were at least partly limited or closed during the lockdowns, households spent around EUR 2.6 billion less than in 2019.

"Banka Slovenija has established that households largely transformed their income to savings", which increased the savings rate by almost 11.7 points to 25%.

This was fuelled by the so called "forced savings" drive stemming from the inability to spend, while uncertainty largely fuelled "precautionary savings" drive at the start of the epidemic in spring.

Another trend from last year was slightly lower demand for consumer loans, which was also witnessed in many other eurozone member states.

The volume of consumer loans given out by banks and savings banks in Slovenia dropped by EUR 218 million.

The central bank estimates that once the epidemiological situation improves, the disposable income will start being spent on private consumption.

"This will again become an important driving force of economic activity in both Slovenia and other eurozone countries."

STA, 4 May 2021 - The secondary school leaving exam is starting on Tuesday for some 17,000 final-year students. This is the second year in a row that the matura exam is taking place during the coronavirus epidemic, and after matura candidates were on distance learning for several months.

Almost 7,200 candidates have registered to take the general matura in spring alongside 10,620 who registered for the vocational matura exam.

However, just over 2,100 will sit for both types of matura, because some vocational matura candidates will also take one exam at general secondary schools.

The general matura starts for almost 6,625 students today as they write an essay in their mother tongue, while the vocational matura starts on 29 May.

Note: While for most students Slovenian is their mother tongue, Italian and Hungarian are also recognised as minority languages

The general matura exam is seen as more demanding in that it better prepares for university studies.

It consists of five exams - in mother tongue, a foreign language, maths and two elective subjects. The results will be available on 12 June.

To make the matura as safe as possible, the Education Ministry opted for voluntary vaccination for all last-year students, which started last week amid criticism that it had come too late for proper immunisation.

Those in quarantine during the matura period will be able to take exams if they produce a negative PCR test not older than 24 hours.

They will take it in a separate room, while school will have to provide for their separate entry to school and to the classroom.

In mid-April, only some 27 last-year secondary school students were sick with Covid-19, with another 199 in quarantine.

Those who can prove to be infected while the matura exam is on will be able to take it in the autumn, the second slot for the exams.

Last-year secondary school students were on remote learning from late October to mid-February, when they were among the first to return to in-person learning so that they could prepare for the matura.

Before schools reopened mass testing of teachers was rolled out and has now become a weekly routine. Teachers have also been prioritised for vaccination.

Please note that PCR tests performed in Serbia and Turkey will be recognised as a way to avoid quarantine on arrival in Slovenia only for arrivals at airports and not in general as reported earlier.

STA, 3 May 2021 - PCR tests done in Serbia and Turkey will be recognised as a way to avoid quarantine on arrival in Slovenia through airports from Wednesday under an amended decree that the government adopted on Monday.

Save for some exceptions, passengers from countries on the red list must quarantine unless they submit a negative PCR test no older than 48 hours, proof of vaccination, or proof of having had Covid-19 in the past six months, which includes a positive PCR test older than 21 days.

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This summary is provided by the STA: 

Logar expresses support for fight for democracy in Belarus

LJUBLJANA - Foreign Minister Anže Logar expressed Slovenia's full support for the fight for democracy in Belarus as he hosted Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. He said that Slovenia, as the presiding EU country in the second half of the year, would put the democratisation and discussion about Belarus high on the agenda of the presidency. Tsikhanouskaya said she was grateful for Slovenia for its "strong position about lawlessness in Belarus" and that it was extremely important to keep Belarus high on the agenda on the international level.

Fundraising campaign launched for the STA

LJUBLJANA - A month-long fundraising campaign kicked off on World Press Freedom Day in a bid to secure funding for the Slovenian Press Agency (STA), which has not received budget funds for the performance of public service for four months. Called "Za obSTAnek", the campaign aims to raise two million euros for the agency via small SMS donations and from potential larger donors and kicked off with a press conference in front of the STA headquarters on Monday. National daily newspapers carried front-page stories in support of the campaign as well.

Jourova to visit Slovenia to discuss initiative on security of journalists

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova announced on World Press Freedom Day a visit to Slovenia to "test the waters" and start a dialogue on an initiative promoting security of journalists. She also also hopes to meet Prime Minister Janez Janša. She said the initiative on security of journalists was planned for September, so she would like to discuss this with Slovenian officials as the country holds the EU presidency in the second half of the year.

Ombudsman says media mustn't be hostage of election winners

LJUBLJANA - In his World Press Freedom Day message, Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina described free, plural and independent media as a fundamental ingredient of democracies. "Independent media and public services are the bedrock of democratic societies, so they must not be hostage in the hands of election winners," he said. He urged the government to reinstate the financing of the STA in line with the law without any further delay, and to appropriately tackle potential shortcomings in the current funding arrangement.

PCR tests from Serbia, Turkey recognised as of Wednesday

LJUBLJANA - PCR tests done in Serbia and Turkey will be recognised as a way to avoid quarantine on arrival in Slovenia from Wednesday under an amended decree adopted by the government. There are also some changes on the red list of countries from which arrivals must quarantine, with Malta and Portugal removed from the list, and Djibouti added. Save for some exceptions, passengers from countries in the red list must quarantine unless they submit a negative PCR test no older than 48 hours, proof of vaccination, or proof of having had Covid-19 in the past six months.

Report: Prosecution rejects complaints against Tonin, Mahnič

LJUBLJANA - The prosecution rejected criminal complaints filed last year against Defence Minister Matej Tonin and Žan Mahnič, the state secretary for national security in the prime minister's office, Nova24TV reported. The complaints had been filed against Tonin in relation to the disclosure of information about the Slovenia-Croatia border arbitration agreement, and against both Tonin and Mahnič over alleged irregularities in the Commission for Oversight of Intelligence and Security Services, of which they were both members when they were still MPs.

Renovated Covid-19 units open in Slovenj Gradec

SLOVENJ GRADEC - Prime Minister Janez Janša visited the Slovenj Gradec general hospital to inaugurate refurbished Covid-19 units in an investment that has cost EUR 27,000, without beds. He praised the hospital's work and plans, noting that a bill on investment in health and long-term care was almost ready. The hospital director Janez Lavre said the refurbished surgical units that had been adjusted to meet the needs of Covid-19 patients would make sure that more beds are available for regular patients again.

Just over 200 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, six deaths

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia reported 209 coronavirus cases on Sunday, 10% more than the same day a week ago. Another six Covid-19 patients lost their lives. Hospitalisations rose by three to 608 but ICU cases dropped by five to 147. The latest cases were confirmed from 1,380 PCR tests, for a positivity rate of 15.1%, but Mateja Logar, the head of the Covid-19 advisory team, expressed concern over rising positivity rate and case count in the past week, although she also noted that the number of active infections has been below 10,000 for the first time since 20 October last year.

Former environment minister forming new party

LJUBLJANA - Former Environment Minister Jure Leben is returning to politics to launch the Party of Green Action (Z.DEJ), whose founding congress will be held online on Saturday. In conceiving the manifesto, the main question was how to find a balance between industrial development and environment protection, he told the newspaper Delo. The new party's demands will not be based only on environmental policy, although sustainable and fair development will be at its heart.

Military exercise Defender Europe DE21 under way until July

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Armed Forces are taking part in the international military exercise Defender Europe DE21, which is under way between 1 May and 5 July. Slovenian soldiers are training alongside members of 26 ally and partner countries. The purpose of the exercise is to divert potential threats and prepare the Slovenian army for its supporting role within NATO, said the head of the sector for training at the Force Command of the Slovenian army, Colonel Igor Šepec.

Major anti-trust procedure against Telekom stopped

LJUBLJANA - The Competition Protection Agency has stopped a major anti-trust procedure against the telecoms incumbent Telekom Slovenije, a decision that comes seven years after the Supreme Court annulled its original decision. Telekom said on Monday proceedings related to alleged unfair pricing of Itak Džabest, a special monthly plan for youths, between 2008 and 2010, had been stopped after the watchdog "did not manage to obtain evidence on the existence of a predatory exclusionary strategy".

Lower VAT on women's sanitary products takes effect

LJUBLJANA - The legislative changes lowering VAT on women's sanitary products from 22% to 9.5% entered into force. The initiative for the changes had come from Bojana Muršič, an MP for the opposition Social Democrats (SD), who argued that women's sanitary products in Slovenia are subject to the highest of the two VAT rates, while some other hygiene products for general use, such as cotton wool, gauze or nappies, are taxed at 9.5%.

STA, 3 May 2021 - The Slovenian Olympic torch set out on its 81-day journey around Slovenia in Bovec on Monday to visit all 212 municipalities until 23 July, after it was taken to Triglav, the country's highest mountain, at the weekend. Over 5,000 runners will carry the symbol of the Olympic Games in the run-up to the Tokyo Summer Olympics. 

The torch was brought to Bovec by athletes from Bovec area - footballer Primož Zorc, kayaker Igor Mlekuž and climber Tine Cuder, while ex-Alpine skier Miran Gašperšič had the honour of lighting it.

Mayor Valter Mlekuž said that it was a special honour for Bovec to see the Olympic torch begin its journey here.

Ex-runner Meta Mačus, head of the regional Olympic office in Nova Gorica, believes the torch will fill people with positive emotions and the Olympic spirit, as it connects the entire country.

The torch was then taken by up-and-coming athletes from Bovec area footballer Zala Kuštrin, freestyle skier Matej Bradaškja and runner Tobi Gabršček passing it on to three riders, who took it to the town of Kobarid.

Children from the Bovec primary school also took part in the launch ceremony, carrying banners with motivational slogans for Slovenian athletes, while year-eight gymnasts presented their skills.

The torch's journey is organised by the Slovenian Olympic Committee in collaboration with the police.

The torch is made of recycled steel and Slovenian beechwood, and will finish its journey in Ravne na Koroškem, where it was forged.

STA, 3 May 2021 - A new index will be introduced on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange (LJSE) on Monday. The Slovenian Total Return Blue Chip Index, SBITOPT, will include share prices as well as confirmed dividends and just like the SBI TOP, it will measure the profitability of the most liquid Slovenian shares.

The new index is a next step in the stock exchange's efforts to offer more valuable data to investors and to make their investment decisions easier, the LJSE says on its web site.

It is aimed at providing an underlying for derivatives and structured financial instruments on the Slovenian capital market.

The SBI TOP is the benchmark index of blue chips traded on the LJSE. In June 2019, it was joined by the Adria Prime (ADRPR) index.

Website of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange

STA, 3 May 2021 - World Press Freedom Day, celebrated on Monday, will be dedicated to the situation at the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) as a fundraising campaign in support of the STA officially kicks off.

The campaign comes after the government suspended financing of the agency. It has been organised by the Association of Slovenian Journalists and the Trade Union of Journalists.

"We are worried about this whole attack on public service that is currently the most evident in the case of the STA, because we can expect RTV Slovenija to be probably next, at least in the sense of control and government attempts at supervising it," says Petra Lesjak Tušek, the head of the association.

Media are always very intertwined with social developments. Being the key institutions of public communication, they are also linked to political life, according to the head of the journalism department at the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences, Jernej Amon Prodnik.

"The battle for the freedom of speech and communication rights has been long and history teaches us that no fight is ever won for good," he said.

But he thinks "we have to be careful and go beyond the narrow understanding of press freedom which is defined simply as the rights of the media owner to do what ever they want with their property".

Journalists are not subjected only to political pressure. Owners often see media as a tool for achieving their own political and economic interests. "We will have to seriously think about how to preserve journalism as a critical and supervisory institution in our society."

Autocratic aspirations, which can be seen in Slovenia and internationally recently, thus have an expectedly negative impact on the media, Amon Prodnik said.

"An authoritative mind does not acknowledge the right to existence to institutions that do not take orders. In this mindset journalists must be obedient servants or they should be discredited, stopped, destroyed."

Amon Prodnik thinks the Covid-19 pandemic has been all too often used as an excuse for curtailing civil liberties and rights in all fields not just in the media.

A recently published annual report by the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) shows that many governments around the globe have used the pandemic to increase repression, and journalism has been blocked in more than 130 countries.

However, journalists have been playing an important part during the epidemic, providing fast, efficient and high-quality information, Lesjak Tušek said. The work has been challenging, and entailed a lot of adjusting and flexibility, she added.

"I think trust in traditional media has increased for a reason, which some trust surveys show. Before it seemed that social networks are gaining ground, undermining the classic media, now it has transpired that media still have substantial power and are extremely important, because credible information needs to be separated from a lot of fake news."

The RSF report also pointed to the "dangerous path for press freedom" in Slovenia, which lost four spots to rank 36th among 180 countries in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index.

Meanwhile, the Association of Journalists and Commentators (ZNP) believes that Slovenian media landscape has seen little change in recent years. There seems to be media pluralism in Slovenia, which allows for different media to be set up, but in fact the media that favour the left political bloc are dominant, the ZNP said.

According to the association, the left-leaning media outlets are very critical of the right-leaning politicians while they are ready to overlook many things when it comes to left-leaning politicians.

"We believe the government, which does not even have influence on any major media outlets, is not the one who is undermining democracy in this country, it is the fragmented, twisted picture that the mainstream media are communicating to the public," the ZNP said.